October 4, 2007

The answer to the question raised yesterday is: "Short Circuit." Here are the "memorable quotes" from the movie that Clarence Thomas found so hilarious in 1986, when he was 38 years old. Today's question is: Which line made Clarence Thomas laugh the most and why? Remember, he was with the woman he would ultimately marry, and what she found funny was that he was laughing so much.

choice in art is a really bad way of judging people (hitler liked wagner, otherwise intelligent people like 'south park'). having said that, it's a hard to think that an adult who likes 'short circuit' doesn't have some quite severe psychological deformity. maybe in thomas' case the deformity is the result of the collision of his race, religion and anxiety about the causes of his status. or maybe he's just a tool.

I'll repeat what I said in the other thread: the truly weird thing is that someone who was almost 40 considered this a date movie! I guess it was a successful gambit, since they married. Maybe I'm misremembering the Speck-dreckiness of the movie. I try to picture someone almost my age saying "Hey, I hear the latest Ally Sheedy/Steve Guttenberg movie is good ... let's go see it". I fail.

Maybe movie choices #1-8 that night were sold out because the choice to watch a movie was a last minute thing. Yeah, that's the ticket.

My question for Mrs. Thomas: Was he laughing because it was funny, or to cover up his embarrassment for being there.

"choice in art is a really bad way of judging people (hitler liked wagner, otherwise intelligent people like 'south park'). having said that, it's a hard to think that an adult who likes 'short circuit' doesn't have some quite severe psychological deformity. maybe in thomas' case the deformity is the result of the collision of his race, religion and anxiety about the causes of his status. or maybe he's just a tool."

How silly. If Breyer and Souter liked the movie would that prove they also were "severely psychologically deformed"?

Some with high IQ's (Sullivan) have no sense of humor, others like low-brow comedy.

I know High IQ medical researchers who like the 3 stooges. Some even like crap like "Friends", Rosanne Barr, and Tim Allen.

Woody Allen, the Marx Brothers, W.C. Fields, are only liked by a small minority. Most People would rather watch "Porkey II" or some bland family comedy.

I quoted the virgin thing yesterday. It's the only line from the movie I remember, plus the look on Steve Gutenberg's face when Fisher Stevens delivers it--inexplicably in the middle of a high-speed chase, if memory serves--is priceless.

It's a cute movie and Badham is a competent director. The whole thing teeters between bland and over-cute--certainly, it's lame, as Titus points out--but it's not boring.

I think Badham's breakthrough series was "The Night Gallery", which Serling complained the studio was trying to turn into "Mannix with a shroud". I have to wonder how much of that was Badham: Lotta car-chases/action scenes in his flicks.

Rod Serling: Good evening, and welcome to a private showing of three paintings, displayed here for the first time. Each is a collectors' item in its own way - not because of any special artistic quality, but because each captures on a canvas, and suspends in time and space, a frozen moment of a nightmare. (Night Gallery 1970)